Courtesy of Roger Labaw, here are some photos of Hopewell streets and buildings in March 1913, after a heavy snowstorm and some hard digging out. See also previous posts on a Snowy Hopewell in the 1910s (Blackwell and Railroad) and Snowy Hopewell in the Early 1900s (Broad and Greenwood).
== View more Labaw photos in the Image Gallery ==
C. N. Allen’s Bakery & Grocery – East Broad & Seminary
The first snow photo shows a man with a basket walking over the snow banks down East Broad Street, approaching Seminary Avenue, where there is a horse-drawn wagon. The wagon looks like a simple open farm wagon with a winter covering for the driver.
The edge of the Central Hotel (now the Hopewell Inn & Bistro) is on the right at the corner. Then there is a one-story building on the opposite corner of Seminary Ave., with the three-story former Miss Bogg’s Hopewell Female Seminary behind it.
The one-story building is C. N. Allen’s Bakery and Grocery, which opened in 1909, and operated until 1915, when the A&P Tea Company took over the building.
The wagon could be Allen’s delivery wagon – the Hopewell Herald reported that he was “driving a new team of greys to his delivery wagon” in 1908, when he was operating a bakery down Seminary Ave.
The other photo shows Allen’s Bakery and Cash Grocery in milder weather, and with motorized delivery trucks. These appear to be c1910 early Model T vehicles, which seems to fit since since Allen’s was at this location from 1909 to 1915. So the delivery trucks and the horse-drawn wagon could be contemporaneous – after all, these trucks could not drive in the snow, much less over snow banks, so the bad weather called for good old horse power.
After Allen’s, the A&P occupied the site at least into the 1950s. Sometime between 1912 and 1927, the building added a second floor, and was split into two units. The current building also has a third-floor dormer, and has been occupied by a variety of businesses including Cox’s Barber Shop (on the right side, with the upstairs apartment) and restaurants and flower stores (especially on the left side).
Calvary Baptist Church – East Broad & Greenwood
The second snow photo shows the Calvary Baptist Church on East Broad Street near Greenwood Avenue, with the porch of the same Central Hotel in the distance.
There are piles of snow along the sidewalks, and the street appears to be only partially cleared. If you look closely, there is a figure walking in front of a tree on the right, where the height of the snow reaches to the waist.
This was during the time that the church had added a second-floor entrance, with steps leading up to a covered landing.
Labaw – 8 Louellen Street
The third snow photo shows 8 Louellen Street, which was built by Lewis Labaw in the late 1800s.
The building just looks cold – encrusted with blown snow – built up on the ground around the tree, piled on the roofs, and caught in the edges between the siding boards. And icicles hang from every horizontal surface around the front and side.
Unfortunately, the house no longer has the bell-shaped roof and third floor porch above the curved bays on the right side.
The gazebo on the right side also was later moved to the left side of the building, and a new house was built in its place.
More Photos
See the Image gallery for more photos from Roger Labaw, including 1921 Louellen Ave., 1958 Columbia & Princeton Aves. in the snow, and 1981 Community Day.
== View more Labaw photos in the Image Gallery ==
Do you have similar photos of historical Hopewell Valley – streets, buildings, fairs, parades and the like? We would love to share them!
As usual, we also welcome comments and more information, photos, and other materials on our local history.
[…] Dashing Through the Snow – Hopewell 1913 Photos […]